Big Day Tomorrow (1 Viewer)

[Andy H]

Morning campers.

Well, tomorrow is our big day, at long last we pick up our new (to us) campervan after months of looking and a month after we sealed the deal. We've been assured that all the remedial work has been completed and the solar panel fitted. The insurance is in place and we'll have a years tax and MOT. Really looking forward to it after feeling a bit nervous over the weekend.

We've got an early start and hope to be at the dealers shortly after opening time. We're staying up north for a couple of days in case there are any snags that need sorting and then back home and start planning our first real trip.

Andy

 

[Figaro]

Good luck with the pickup
What are you buying ?

 

[beltsandbraces]

good luck and enjoy, we have another week to wait!!!

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[Vanman]

@Andy H & @beltsandbraces Don't forget to take plenty of pictures and a write up of the handover highlights would be great for those of us still waiting our turn!

 

[laird of Dunstan]

It's a very exciting time , afterwards you will remember about 10% of what the guy told you at handover , because all you want to do is get in it and drive

 

[beltsandbraces]

I have started to panic, only looked at 3 vans and paid a deposit straight away. normally do lots of homework before parting with my hard earned!!!

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[skylinersi]

bet you are like a kid at christmas!, hope all goes well, and maybe vid the handover?, then you'll not need to try and remember so much, enjoy, you lucky so and so's !

 

[Andy H]

Thanks everyone.

Good luck with the pickup
What are you buying ?

It's a 2005 IH Tio Savannah, and we're getting from IH themselves, it was a trade in from a repeat customer.

Fortunately we have a few years experience with a caravan, so some of the handover will be quite familiar. We're hoping the Camper will be less faffing around and less stressful to drive, we never had any major incident's (petrol stations with a caravan always seemed to be particularly stressful) when towing but we always felt a bit relieved when we arrived. And more importantly, it'll be easier to take over the channel.

Andy

 

[mpdcymru]

Good idea to spend a few days near the dealer to test everything. Well thought through.

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[StephandJohn]

Yes it is a good idea to stay near the dealers for a night or two. We had a few problems with ours which were easily fixed the next day but still took about four hours. It would have been a nightmare if we'd gone more than the few miles down the road than we did.
We met a couple in Cornwall a few years ago who were waiting on a campsite to pick up a 15 year old campervan and were then going straight back to Sheffield. They didn't know the dealer, had never had a motorhome or even a caravan before and I thought were too trusting of the dealer. Maybe it was OK - I'll never know because off they went on the morning they'd arranged to collect it and that was that

 

[jdk62]

It is so exciting. When we were due to pick up our first van it was crazy, couldn't sleep for days!

Enjoy and have fun

 

[tofo]

Morning campers.

Well, tomorrow is our big day, at long last we pick up our new (to us) campervan after months of looking and a month after we sealed the deal. We've been assured that all the remedial work has been completed and the solar panel fitted. The insurance is in place and we'll have a years tax and MOT. Really looking forward to it after feeling a bit nervous over the weekend.

We've got an early start and hope to be at the dealers shortly after opening time. We're staying up north for a couple of days in case there are any snags that need sorting and then back home and start planning our first real trip.

Andy

Me being a doubting Thomas
If your buying from a dealer
Check the work Is done before paying

If you must pay and trust the dealer, withhold some funding

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[Riverbankannie]

Exited for you. from a fellow IH owner.

 

[Andy H]

Me being a doubting Thomas
If your buying from a dealer
Check the work Is done before paying

If you must pay and trust the dealer, withhold some funding

That is good advice, we have coughed most up but paying the last lump sum when we collect tomorrow, I was a bit concerned, but IH have a very good reputation, wouldn't have done that if it had been Marquis. Having dealt with Nicola at IH, I felt she represented a company with integrity "we want you to come back to us if ever buy another Moho."

Exited for you. from a fellow IH owner.

Are you a member of the IH owners club, and if you are is it worth joining?

Andy

 

[Riverbankannie]

Hi @Andy H , PM sent (look in inbox)
Hope you have a great day today.

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[suavecarve]

@Andy H Update required please !

 

[barwik]

pics needed or it never happened

 

[Anthea M]

Congratulations and I hope you are enjoying your new van! Safe travels!

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[Andy H]

Well we're back.

And what an atrocious few days we've had.

The van side of things went very well. The hand over was very good, conducted by one of their fitters, a very friendly and knowledgeable guy. He was able to answer all our questions and the rest of the staff we dealt with were very friendly. All the work we had asked to be done had been done. The idea of recording the handover might have been worth taking up, as by the time we got on site we had forgotten a lot of it. Never mind we would have plenty of time to work it all out.

We had booked onto a site at Holmfirth on the edge of the Pennines, at this of year there are only two choices, one down in the valley surrounded by woodland, the other on top of a hill 350m above sea level overlooking the town. We chose the later, for the views. Who wouldn't? Oh, by the way, did you hear about Storm Doris?

The first thing we did wrong was to drive off the site track and onto the grass, within a couple of meters we'd sunk up to the wheel rims in mud. We had been warned, but one of us felt it looked ok.....Tow off required.

Our first night we were kept awake by the wind and the constant knocking of the EHU cover flapping up and down in the wind, the knocking being amplified by the large soundbox we were sleeping in.

We spent the most of the next day not daring to go out, the weather was atrocious, cold, wet and very strong winds with frequent violent gusts. I did the honours with filling and emptying tanks, good job we'd bought a watering can and grey waste jerry, as we couldn't get anywhere the tap or waste point. Most of the day was spent working out how van stuff worked, we did manage a stroll down into Holmfirth later on after the wind had dropped.

Next day, weather was lovely, we did a nice walk, the route had been plotted at home and sent the GPX file to our phone/garmin, no map needed. Got 3/4 of the way round, and the route was officially closed for maintainance to a reservoir. Normal people would just turn round and back track, but we had no map, and as a Diabetic, I had only brought enough carbs for the planned walk, had no money on us, and would not have been able to backtrack without going Hypo, so we had to trespass and hope for the best. Anyway, the diversion over private property didn't take long.

That evening, the forecast wasn't to bad so we thought we'd try out the thermal screens. Easily fitted, and seemed to make quite a difference to the internal temperature. We were woken up at 3 in the morning by a constant loud flapping. The wind had got up and got under the screens and they now acting like sails. So out we went, pitch dark, howling Gail, horizontal rain, to retrieve the remains of our screens.

Anyway, we're back now. The screens are actually ok. We retrieved our watering can from the field next door and apart from a damaged aerial (caused by the flapping screens) alls well.

Reckon we learned a few lessons. Don't drive onto a muddy field. Don't leave your watering can out in high winds. Don't leave your screens on in high winds. And most importantly don't camp on top of a hill when a violent storm is forecast. Reckon if we coped with the last couple of days, we'll cope with almost anything. And we loved the van. Wahay

Hope some of of you have made to the end of this long and rambling post.

Andy

 

[Anthea M]

All part of the learning curve!!! It will get better very soon and continue to enjoy!!

 

[Vanman]

Thanks for the write-up, all good stuff for us beginners. You did get some pictures too though?!

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[barwik]

No pics ..... it never happened ! - but it does sound like you're were in at the deep end - it'll be fine from now on

 

[autorouter]

Reminds me of what the mountaineering instructor wrote in my logbook after a week long course out in the lake district fells:

"The weather was excellent for training purposes..."

 

[Puddleduck]

I have started to panic, only looked at 3 vans and paid a deposit straight away. normally do lots of homework before parting with my hard earned!!!

The van before the one we have now we looked at dozens - and then went back and bought the second one we had seen! We would still have that one but both our sons had sons and we needed something bigger.

When we bought the van we have now (Jemima) we knew what we were looking for regarding layout and found it when we were "just doing research" at the NEC ..... ended up agreeing a price and putting down a deposit. We have not regretted it

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[Kingham]

@Andy H Anything else here on in will be a doddle after that baptism of fire